Welcome, readers, to another issue of The Mountain Times. As you may imagine, we have been hard at work collecting stories and photos for what we think may be our best paper yet. As you can see, the mountain is bustling this month with different activities as we transition from summer to fall. With so many things happening, and so many interesting people to learn about, we had to expand our publication from 32 pages to 40 in order to make space for all the content. I asked Peggy Wallace, who has worked for the paper since the dawn of time — and as far as I am concerned, is the heart and soul of this newspaper — when the last time the paper was this big. She replied, “Never, we are now in uncharted territory.” That made me smile. We will begin our November issue soon, and we hope to continue the trend of expanding local coverage. Until then, have a happy, safe October.

Sincerely,
Matt Nelson


Letter to the Editor
Hello everyone, I’m chairman of the Hoodland STR Committee. We have big plans now that the county has passed minimal regulations for the Short Term Vacation Rentals (STRs). Our plans include the following:
Changing our name to the Mt Hood Livability Coalition (MHLC). We will also be changing our URL.
Volunteering to work with the new administrator of the STR Regulations and Registration pilot program who will be hired by December. We plan on meeting with him/her as soon as we can after he/she begins work.

Possibly registering as a 501-c4 nonprofit group.

Working on a way to gain more local control for our community.

We have set a goal of signing on over 100 supporters by the time we introduce ourselves to the administrator. We currently have 75. If you are interested and support us in continuing our work, please send an email to group@hoodlandstrs.org. We are a voice for our mountain communities, join with us and together we can let the county know:

We want their minimal regulations, plus sheriff and fire regulations enforced.

We want to have density controls on the number of non owner occupied Vacation rentals (STR’s )that can be registered in our area
We want the right to peacefully enjoy OUR property.

Sincerely,
Michelle and Hoodland STR Committee members
Doug, Peter, Michelle, Dona
and Matt